Raccoon Brook Hills Trail/Pine Meadow Lake/Diamond...

Harriman-Bear Mountain State Parks

Raccoon Brook Hills Trail/Pine Meadow Lake/Diamond Mt. Loop - Harriman-Bear Mountain State Parks - Photo: Daniel Chazin Raccoon Brook Hills Trail/Pine Meadow Lake/Diamond Mt. Loop - Harriman-Bear Mountain State Parks - Photo: Daniel Chazin

This loop hike at the southern end of the park climbs Raccoon Brook Hill and Diamond Mountain, with several panoramic viewpoints, and runs along cascading Stony Brook and scenic Pine Meadow Lake.

41.173916, -74.168658

From the parking lot, head east (left when facing the woods), passing the Visitor Center to the left. You are following the red-on-white-blazed Pine Meadow Trail, which parallels Stony Brook, to the left. Continue ahead along this wide trail for 0.4 mile until you reach a fork. The yellow-blazed Stony Brook Trail, which proceeds straight ahead, will be your return route, but you should bear...

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Trip Reports

rate experience
September 06, 2014
0
enjoyed it
<p>I went with my wife 9/3/14 - a weekday</p> <p>We went kind of spur of the moment without looking at a map- just following the directions above<br>Our 2nd hike (first hike was evening before) &nbsp;</p> <p>It was a nice hike - with 0 people encounted on RBH path and only 1 person seen at the lake and then 0 people again on Diamond Mountain. &nbsp;</p> <p>However I think we made the same mistake as the earlier commenter -&nbsp;</p> <p>At the peak of&nbsp;<span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 14.5920000076294px; background-color: #ffffff;">Diamond Mountain we stopped not to disturb some eagles and when we turned around behind us we saw the views of the lake we just visited. &nbsp;Going forward again we found the blue &amp; orange trail markers together on the same path but they continued on to the Right - not the Left as described in the instuctions above. &nbsp;We doubled back to look for any orange trail markers going to the left but found none - we only found the blue trail going to the left but looking down the blue trail that went left we did not see any orange blazes. &nbsp;</span></p> <p>If we had stopped to study the map we would have either fought through and found a hidden orange trail or at least have taken the blue trail. &nbsp; Instead we did not feel like stopping and just followed the orange and blue trail down to the Right and it did steeply descend as described in the instructions and it did eventually meet up with a brook as described but it also took us a bit out of the way. &nbsp;At the Brook with no white blazes anywhere to be found we saw the beginning of the yellow trail so we took this (long) trail along the brook and got back on track. &nbsp;</p> <p>All in all it took us 5 hours - this includes stopping for a 20 min lunch, stopping to look at lake, backtracking, searching for white trail, and stopping to enjoy views - however we walked quickly the whole way.&nbsp;</p> <p>Next hike I am plotting it out on the map beforehand so I don't make it longer than it is</p> <p>I had only brought a soda can with me and I drank it at RBH summit so staring at the cool water brook on the long way home I was getting thirsty lol -&nbsp;</p> <p>We will be back for sure when we have time to try another one - thanks!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>
strafer
September 29, 2012
0
Nice scenery
<p>The trail was not bad, the scenery was beautiful, but the trail has a good amount of broken glass, garbage, and is absolutely flooded with people.&nbsp; I enjoy meeting people on the trail, but there were groups of 5-10 at every single resting spot.&nbsp; We were not able to walk for more than 5 minutes before running into another group.</p> <p>I do think there was some type of -- convention or meeting when we went.&nbsp; Most of them were very inexperienced, were constantly screaming back down the trail at each other, and talking extremely loud.&nbsp; I enjoy hiking because of the peace and quiet and you will definitely not find it on this trail.</p>
Gordy22
September 03, 2012
0
really good time
<p>&nbsp;I just did this hike this weekend and it was a blast. very challenging but well worth it. must be in shape to do. directions were great, got a little confused at the bottom of the second steep descent, got to an intersection of orange and yellow. thankfully we picked yellow and folled back to red and white with the stony brook to our right. thankfully we ended up back in the parking lot just at dark. everyone was friendly as can be too. took 5.5 hours but we took long breaks and really enjoyed the entire day.</p>
willythekid
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